I was apparently bitten on my left thumb by a very small brown recluse spider last Thursday. It was hiding in my mail box. Because the spider was so small it didn't have much venom. Hence I haven't developed the dire symptoms that come from being bitten by an adult female. But even so I had a lot of swelling and pain. It is now subsiding.

Allen

pufferfish

Lol. I'm sorry for that. funny you posted it in the female abs forum tho.

Allen, a couple things.
First off, GET TO A DOCTOR NOW! Dude, a brown recluse spider is very poisonous. DON'T SCREW AROUND! GET CHECKED NOW!
Second off, people mistake a brown recluse for a lot of bites. Dude, people lose LIMBS to brown recluse bite. People have DIED from brown recluse bites. The brown recluse poison isn't exactly a poison as much as it's an anti-protein venom. Venom & poisons are different.

http://www.ascendedhealth.com/brown-recluse/bite-picture.htm
http://www.surviveoutdoors.com/emergency/spiderbites_recluse.asp
http://entomology.unl.edu/charts/recbite.shtml
http://www.brownreclusespider.org/

o_0 i hope he got to a doctor

Thanks for caring! It is much, much better today.

I must have been a little giddy last night when I posted it in the female abs forum. Maybe it was a child alter who is rather silly. Or both true.

Allen

Pufferfish

Thank you LL for caring. I did see a doctor yesterday and I have some very good medicine if it gets worse. But actually it is getting better. When I awoke this morning it was almost gone (the pain that is, not my thumb).

Because I had so much pain and swelling from such a small spider I could imagine what would happen from a large adult spider. I would sympathize with anyone who had the full blast.

Allen

pufferfish

Warning - pictures of spiders

This is what the one looked like that bit me. It was small. The whole thing including legs would fit on a dime.








This is a picture of the typical brown recluse. Notice the differenct from above. I have seen these and I can identify them and I'm duly afraid of the.



Allen

pufferfish

Hi Pufferfish

I am pleased to hear that it was a small spider.The Brown recluse venom is often fatal. I have 13 Tarantulas living in my room with me.

I hope you are ok

I'll stick to New England. We have no deadly or even dangerous animals, maybe a straggler here and there, but nothing that I have ever seen. Actually we do need to watch out for the skunks, they`ll make you stink for a week.

The Brown Recluse is very dangerous, but it comes second to the hobo spider. AKA the aggressive house spider, it's got a temper. The Brown, poke at it with a pencil and it'll scurry away. The Hobo, it'll backdown as well, but it's not hard to push it far enough that it'll attack the pencil.

Hey Allen, look on the bright side! Anyone sees the header of this thread "Pufferfish bitten by a brown female" they can always say you're racially diverse!

You guys are so funny - ROTFLMAO. "racially diverse" NO offense but this is funny.

ALLEN - I am so glad ur ok.

I scream like a ..... when I see a spider. I am masculine until the sheer or sharp pangs of fear arise.

See the pics here of the spiders made my skin crawl.

Thanks guys,

It's 95% healed by now. It did not develop any necrosis.

Allen

pufferfish

i actually have some spiders for pets until they die.

You were LUCKY pufferfish, so glad you are doing well. Interesting the smaller the spider, the lesser the venom. It's the opposite effect regarding our Rattlesnakes. Fully grown Rattlers secrete a certain amount vs a baby rattler who les it all out

About 6 months ago in my garage, I saw my first brown recluse. We have many black widows also.


Mike

Spider bite still a bit stiff with a small amount of pain. I didn't develop any necrosis. However the skin is peeling off like in a bad sunburn.

Allen

pufferfish

Allen,

I guess you have to change your name to spiderman now. lol
Glad your ok.

See ya spidey.

sorry couldn't resist.

Mike

Mike



These spider bites are worrysome. It got a lot better and now it is getting worse again.

Allen

puffing fish

It happened again

One week ago. I didn't see the spider and it probably happened at night while I was asleep. I had to move my trash can out to the road where they could pick it up. I noticed there were spider webs on it.

This bite is below my left eye. (Yes, on my face!!!) The first few days it was like a small pimple that irritated and itched. The pimple had in the top of it a small brown object. Then it started swelling up, into a hard knot like a marble about 3/8 inch diameter. The knot and the pain started increasing. It obviously contained some fluid and puss. I looked at it with a magnifying mirror and I believe I saw little holes like when a spider bites. The problem seems somewhat similar to what I had almost a year ago but on my hand then. However the facial skin is pretty sensitive. The knot has swollen to about a 1/2 inch surrounded by red like a bad sunburn.

The good thing seems to be that the wound has not developed a necrotic crust. That seems to be the real danger from brown recluse bites.

I saw the Dr. today and he agrees that it was at least some kind of a small "beast". He said it looks like there are some little mouth parts within the bite (yuk!). The Dr. prescribed some antibiotic pills to take for 2 weeks.

It's interesting that it was almost a year after the previous bite.

Tomorrow I am going to buy insect/spider spray. I didn't move my trash barrel this week. I'll spray it good before I do.

Allen

puffingface

P.S. Should this have been placed under "female abuse"? lol

I have to answer my own post!

It's better this morning: Pain and swelling down.

Apparently what works is antihistamine and anti-inflammatory. I have used Advil PM over night. Plain Advil during the day with an antihistamine

Allen

Allen,

you need to stay away from those spiders man...

hope the antiboitics and Advil help this one to go away quickly

I spray with Ortho Home Defense Max (from Menards) - it really helps to keep the spiders/bugs out of the house (and it lasts for 3 months)

Hi, my brothers,

So Allen (pufferfish), got bit AGAIN.

I sure hope that you get over this attack again.

Did you squish it???

Heal well, my brother Allen, heal well.

Pete..Irishmoose.

Those Spiders really like you Allen!

You are very lucky that the infection did not spread to your eye! It would probably be a good idea to spray. (At least the same time next year! )

Didi

This stuff is really bad. The bite was infected and was on the verge of being quite serious. A friend identified the problem to me so that I started taking some strong meds to work with the problem.

Allen

pufferfish

Warning - gross medical de>

OK - The thing bit me 3 weeks ago. A brown recluse bite. I've been taking some big pills twice a day. The wound just closed yesterday, in the sense that the scab came off in the shower. There is still a little mound there. It's slightly purple. I think that the wound was infected. The wound swelled up the size of half of a pingpong ball and turned a dark purple. The center was open and oozing pus. The Dr. said it looked like a staph infection. I think that word comes from the fact that it felt like the beast had struck me with a staff!!!

I believe that the wound did not reach the point of necrosis. That is where the flesh starts to peel off and a huge wound results. I was concerned about that a few weeks ago. I was afraid I might loose face.

At that time I moved the garbage barrel out of my driveway onto the street for it to be picked up. I noticed the barrel had cobwebs on it. It was dark at the time and I tried to stay clear of the webs on the barrel. Somehow the thing must have gotten on my clothing or shoes or something and come inside with me. During the night it came off and gave me a good bite. It apparently lefts it's false teeth in my skin.

What happened is that I took a sleeping pill so I didn't wake up when it pranced across my face. What I did was dream about it. I thought it was a bad dream. A creepy critter crawling on my face. I swiped at it during the night and it let me have a good one. It was more than a bad dream.

Tonight when I moved the barrel, I did so before the sun set. I sprayed the barrel good with a good spray.

Allen

pufferfish (not puffing now )

ps. If a search spider gets into this, I'm going to whack it good!!

Had to laugh when I read that - lol

Seriously though... I am glad that you are on the mend

Hi, my brother.

Maybe you could change your signature to Spideyfish.

You didn't bite (no pun intended) when i suggested to you that Holymackrel, would be a good change.

Just trying to be helpful, my brother...lol

Heal well, my brother Allen, heal well.

Pete..Irishmoose.

Pete,

That's pretty funny.

There is still a scar there.

The lesson to be learned:

I get creeped out several times a day when I imagine something crawling up my pants or shirt.

I think it's PTSD applied to spider bites.

Allen

spideyfish aka holymackrel

I know this isn't exactly a new topic, but figured i'd chime in... about 3 months ago i had to cope w/ spider bites which acted similarly- i believe i was bitten by either hobo spiders or yellow sac spiders, which have cytotoxic venom and create the same sort of 8-week swelling/pussing/healing time. So... not necessarily a brown recluse, but certainly not fun, either!

Thanks for your input, dgoods.

Actually I never saw the spider that bit me so it's only identified by process of best guess. I actually "dreamed" that something was crawling on my face as I slept. I swiped at it and it got me good. It left only a small wound in the morning. It's been 7 weeks and there is still a button-sized hard lump under the skin.

Allen

pufferfish

I've never been bitten by a hobo.

Here is a magnification of spider fangs. Presumably they were left in my skin as a trophy.



Allen

really puffed fish

ps Get this:

Spider bite progress:

Still a tiny bit of swelling. Someone commented yesterday on the "purple spot under my eye". I didn't realize it was still discolored. This is over 3 months from the bite. I didn't lose any flesh (brown recluse bites sometimes will cause flesh to necrotize and peel away). Yep' no face lost.

So why did I get a yearly spider bite? They must become aggressive as they sense the season changing?

BTW
Here's a spider tat for you. It's not a real spider, it's a tattoo.



Allen

eeeeeewww. So real looking. Glad it isn't around me!

I discovered that they (brown recluse presumably) had made a nest again in my mail box. It was a little bundle of silken threads. I didn't mess around. I sprayed it good!!!!

There are lots of them around my house. I sprayed a bunch in the basement this evening.

Allen

.

.

The spiders never warn before biting. Especially the one that bit me while I was asleep. I still have a small swelling there.

I ordered a book on spiders in my geographic area. It says that they don't bite unless you get into their nest. I beg to differ with that. The one that got on my hand as I took my mail out of my mail box was being aggressive. Also the one that bit me during the night was not in her nest. I don't sleep in a spider web!

Whiskers, I suppose it has affected my security while sleeping and at other times.

Allen

.

Whiskers: I know of other people who have this deep fear of spiders. I have supposed that as infants they had a fearful experience with a spider which they don't even remember.

I have a love-hate relationship there. I'm terribly fascinated by spiders but my fear of them has increased. Only a few of them are dangerous. Unfortunately the dangerous one is fairly common around dark basement areas in older homes in the southeastern United States. Some of the spiders, like the ones which make such magnificent webs, are extremely fascinating. They are horribly scary but not at all dangerous. The orb-weaver spiders. (Charlotte's Web).

I once caught a tarantula by the leg. I used tweezers, not my fingers. The tarantula simply escaped leaving me holding its leg in my tweezers. They have the ability to do this.
(The tarantula is technically not a spider).

What really scares me: People who remind me of people who abused me. Such as that nameless chef on TV.

Allen

I just found this thread because of the recent bump. I've paged-through it all and my inner children (OK..and ME) are screaming like a little girl who just had a frog thrown at her.

If there IS a hell, its FULL of spiders. Gosh!!!! Why did I look at this thread!?!?!?!

I just wanted to see what "Brown Female" bit Allen. I was wondering if she was a relative of mine. Instead, I'm feeling spiders crawling all over me!!!!

I'm not trying to start our own version of Arachnophobia. I started out by merely reporting a trauma but a most interesting one. I got lots of favorable comments on it.

Allen

She did it again.

I opened my mail box yesterday and she (a new one) had built a new web, thinking it was a secure black cave under the magnolia tree. When I opened the box, she scurried to the back of the box. Today I sprayed the box good. I did not get bitten. The postman will also not get bitten